According to Spencer Stuart’s recent pulse survey of 797 public and private company directors, a majority of boards represented by respondents had taken the following actions to address CEO succession planning in the last 12 months:
- Had direct exposure to the possible internal successors
- Discussed the profile and criteria for the next CEO
- Developed succession plans for possible internal successors across multiple timelines (e.g., ready now, ready in 1–2 years, ready in 3–4 years)
And nearly half of respondents said their board reviewed development plans for possible internal successors and aligned on an emergency CEO succession plan.
The results of the survey, which benchmarked various aspects of the succession planning process, are accompanied by Spencer Stuart’s "best practice" guidance.
See also The Conference Board’s report: "CEO Succession Practices"; our recent report: “Alternative CEO Transition Scenarios”; and additional resources on our CEO Succession/Evaluation page.
This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!